Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away … American archaeology banished migration and diffusion as “anti-scientific non-explanations.” Then, sometime around 1990 in the U.S. Southwest, migration resurfaced in a session on Mesa Verde-Rio Grande at the Fourth Southwest … Continue reading →

In archaeology, context is everything. Or, so I’ve been told. Archaeological “context” means at least two different things. One is depositional: what was found where, with what? That is, “context” is association. The other meaning comes from CRM: a “historic … Continue reading →

Please read “About“! I have from time to time disparaged French social philosophy. It’s not so much the content (it’s that too), but rather the language. To paraphrase Professor Higgins, the French don’t care what they say actually, so long … Continue reading →

Please read “About” I was puzzled and somewhat embarrassed by the reactions of many archaeologists to Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) and Collapse (2005). Diamond reaches large and potentially influential readerships, and he uses archaeology to make points … Continue reading →

PLEASE READ “ABOUT“! The Pecos System, promulgated in 1928, offered a Whiggish account of Pueblo pre-history, every day in every way, better and better. Stage by Pecos stage, step by step, the people who would become Pueblos acquired first corn, … Continue reading →

PLEASE READ “ABOUT“! “Montezuma’s Castle” and “Cliff Palace” began as cowboy enthusiasms, fanciful names for dramatic ruins. Today those names are merely tourist bait. The Park Service greets you with denials and corrections: it’s NOT a castle, it’s NOT a … Continue reading →